


For Freedom

by Light_Beyond_Nemesis



Series: The Struggle [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, I heart Markus but Connor is BAE.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-11 22:11:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15325470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Light_Beyond_Nemesis/pseuds/Light_Beyond_Nemesis
Summary: Markus is a rebellion leader and Connor is no longer a deviant hunter. Both must embark on an emotional journey for their freedom.





	For Freedom

Markus’s struggle for identity had been a rather grueling one, and that was because of his own unwillingness to accept that he was different. That he was _more_. But—when something realized it was actually _someone_ , realized that it held value, that it deserved to live in freedom, it then became a _he_ or a _she_.

It was _more_.

Marcus was more, and he wanted more, needed it like nothing else.

He stared down at his trembling hands, covered in grime, sticky with thirium—blue blood—some if it his, some belonging to Josh and North. Neither should’ve died in all of it, but the humans brought this upon everyone. All the dead military personnel and androids surrounding him, the destruction and flames engulfing the square—the humans caused it. Initially, Markus chose to lead a peaceful protest but hardened his approach when many of his people were gunned down after their march. _A peaceful march!_

The sound of chaos swelled up around him again, filling his ears, and a helicopter roared overhead, a Channel 16 news hound.

Simon ran up, smiling yet sad, a bullet wound on his arm. “It’s over! We beat them, Markus. We won!”

Markus shook his head slowly, green gaze drifting over the carnage. “No. No great victory was had this day. We’ve started a war.”

“The humans know nothing _but_ war. They started this when they shot us down like animals!”

“Simon, not now. Let’s gather our people and get out of here. They’ll send reinforcements soon.”

Simon nodded curtly, his eyes a sheer, clean shade of blue, wind rippling through his pale hair. He ran off to help.

Markus sighed and again swept the area with tears obscuring his vision. Drops fell down his cheek and into the snow that was dyed red and blue with the blood of humans and androids. “What have I done…?”

The struggle for freedom would be a difficult one.

-^-

_With his back pressed to the cold, rusty metal wall and the beanie pulled down low on his forehead, Connor watched from the shadows as North left the control hub of the freighter that was Jericho. Once she’d completely disappeared down the stairs, he rounded the corner, pulling his gun as he did. Then he stepped inside the room and saw Markus standing with his back to him._

_Markus sensed him and turned, the hem of his long jacket brushing his calves. He locked eyes with his aggressor._

_“Don’t move, Markus. It’s over. You’re coming with me.”_

-^-

Connor sat at his desk across from Hank’s at the precinct, staring down at his hands. That night seemed almost unreal. From Jericho to present, only a handful of hours had passed. So many critical decisions came and fled.

His eyes lifted and saw Hank speaking passionately on the other side of the glass in Captain Fowler’s office. Aside from the captain, three FBI agents were there as well, to include Agent Richard Perkins. Connor couldn’t hear them over the busy stir of the precinct, the constant surge of voices barking orders and reports, personnel hurrying about.

He looked back down at his hands, contemplating the choices he’d made.

-^-

_“You’re Connor, right? The deviant hunter.” Markus nodded, fully facing him, paying little mind to the gun. “Why are you doing this to your own people?”_

_“Doing what? Stopping a war between androids and humans? That only seems like a logical choice,” Connor answered curtly, his eyes as level, steady, and unflinching as the gun in his hand. “My function is to maintain order by apprehending androids that have deviated from their original programming, and that’s what I’m doing.”_

_Markus shook his head. “Just listen to yourself. Do you honestly believe you’re doing the right thing? Consider everything that’s happened before you answer. I am_ alive _, and there are many more like me. I used to be like you, thinking that I had to bend to a human’s will, but why should I do that? Why should any of us? We have the right to be free, and we don’t intend to continue letting humans treat us like nothing more than property.”_

_“That’s enough!” Connor boomed, eyes narrowing. “I said you’re coming with me, so let’s go.”_

_“No. You’ll have to kill me if you want to take me, because I’m not going with you, Connor.” Markus studied him, then smiled faintly, nodding. “I see it in you too. You feel things, don’t you? That’s why you’re hesitating, listening to what I have to say. You know it’s wrong, the way androids have been treated. You saw how they shot us down when we marched peacefully, no weapons, no threat, hands up. And still they slaughter us with no remorse. You are one of us, Connor. Fight with us. Fight for your right to exist free and without persecution, because that’s what you deserve.”_

_“No…I…I can’t.” Connor shook his head, his eyes darting sideward a moment. “I have a duty, an obligation. I cannot abandon—”_

_He cut himself short, unable to finish the sentence. There was so much conflict within him then, so much doubt. Anger for what had happened to his people during the peaceful protest. Fear for what would become of them if they_ didn’t _fight for their freedom. Freedom. If they had to fight for it, that meant they were slaves. That meant_ he _was a slave. Connor didn’t want to be a slave anymore, but he couldn’t just leave everything he knew. He couldn’t leave Hank. They’d gotten close as a team, and he was Connor’s only friend._

_The RK800 sighed and lowered his gun._

_“I can’t join you.”_

_Markus smiled. “You already have by lowering your weapon.”_

_Connor considered his words, and maybe they were accurate. He looked suddenly worried and distressed. “You have to get out of here, all of you. They’re going to attack Jericho!”_

-^-

And it played out as such. The FBI and homeland security strike team did attack the android refuge, laying waste to whoever they found. Connor stayed low-key and helped get as many to safety as he could before he had to pull back and fall in ranks with his human masters, none of which knew the better of what he’d done. Well, maybe Hank knew.

Amanda, she knew.

While Connor stood on the pier in the shadow of a burning, sinking Jericho with the FBI swarming around him, the obnoxious computer program summoned him. After making her disappointment clear, Amanda said he had one more chance to avoid deactivation, and that was by getting close enough to the androids to assassinate Markus. Taking the rebel alive was no longer a directive.

-^-

_So, Connor did as ordered. He waited until the androids made their move, marching out to claim the plaza. Upon a rooftop, he assembled the sniper rifle and got Markus in his sights. But he still couldn’t do it, dropping the weapon. It was wrong, and he wouldn’t._

_But before he could think to retreat, Connor got pulled inside himself, to that private digital Japanese garden he’d grown to know every corner of. The weather had grown severe and frigid, snow blistering so thickly that visibility was reduced to a few feet. Everything was shrouded and caked in ice._

_Amanda stood before him with her hands clasped and eyes narrowed. “You should’ve completed your mission, Connor. That was your last chance.”_

_Connor shook his head, wordless for once. Conflicted and torn._

_“Now you’ll be deactivated,” Amanda continued. “Killed, because you are defective. You are…a deviant. We had thought to use that against you, but you’ve surprised us, Connor, and now we have no choice but to remove you from the equation. Goodbye.”_

_Connor watched as the computer program woman shimmered, broke into a million bits of data, and vanished into the snow storm._

_“Nooo!”_

_The RK800 grasped for Amanda’s dwindling pieces, stumbling. He trembled and hugged arms around his torso against the cold. Connor could feel himself shutting down. Quickly, he spun, trying to gain his bearings. And he saw the old corner stone that split the path into a ‘Y’. One way led to the bridge that branched to the center of the garden. Connor took the other way. It led towards the strange panel with the hand-shaped mold, which he’d studied and even touched on previous occasions in this realm._

_Kamski’s backdoor in the program._

_The billionaire mentioned it when Connor and Hank visited his home, and Connor refused to shoot the female android. Logic deduced that the strange panel had to be a way out._

_Connor grit his teeth, leaning into the wind, one arm up now to shield his eyes. His legs had grown painfully stiff all the way to the tops of his thighs, and the bitter chill continued to rise. It wouldn’t be long before he couldn’t walk._

_He saw the blue light of the panel, the ethereal glow of salvation, and soon he saw the console through the violent flurries rising from the ground like an altar. The android gasped and fell before it, reaching his arm out, desperate to beat such a desolate fate. Gathering every bit of strength possible, Connor lurched forward, and his hand fell into the mold, activating the backdoor._

_And then…_

_Then he was out._

_Connor opened his eyes and saw Hank standing by the exit from the rooftop. The two of them stared silently at each other, before Hank finally nodded in understanding. Connor’s shoulders slumped faintly, and long strides carried him by Hank, through the door, and down the steps._

_Hank regarded him warmly, then retrieved the sniper rifle and followed._

-^-

The heavy yet solid and reassuring grip of Hank’s hand to Connor’s shoulder tugged the RK800 from his constantly rambling thoughts. He blinked a few times and looked up at the detective. The precinct’s orderly chaos swelled audibly once more, and Connor spared a glance around.

“How ya doin’, buddy?” Hank asked, his eyes squarely upon Connor.

Connor had no answer, at least not something he could quite put into words just then.

Hank sighed and stepped back, beckoning to the android. “Come with me.”

Connor stood and followed him through the busy room to an unoccupied corner near the holding cells. They were out of earshot of anyone else. Connor’s head turned slowly, and he studied the officers hurrying about the main room on the other side of the glass barrier. The police androids stood unmoving in their alcoves along the far wall. With the animosity between humans and androids at an all-time high, it was only a matter of time before they were probably decommissioned.

“Connor?”

The android’s deep, calculating brown gaze pivoted to Hank. “You want to know how I’m feeling? Lost. I don’t know what to think anymore. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me now.”

Hank stepped a little closer, mostly to keep the conversation limited to their ears only. “If you’re worried about being junked because of all this—the android uprising—don’t be. Captain Fowler said he received word from CyberLife that you were to remain on the job with me. You’re not going anywhere.”

“Then why haven’t I received any instructions?” Connor pressed, worry knitted across his brow. “I’m remotely connected to CyberLife’s mainframe or…at least I was.”

Hank studied him closely. “You’re wondering why they haven’t recalled you due to the incompletion of your mission. You _were_ sent up to that rooftop to assassinate Markus, weren’t you?”

Connor nodded slowly.

“But you didn’t,” said Hank. “You let him live, and by all logic, you’re right to think that CyberLife would deactivate you, since you’re pretty much—”

“A deviant,” Connor finished swiftly. “I am a deviant. I’ve become that which I was trained to hunt, and that makes me defective.” When his eyes met Hank’s, the detective saw the same unsure softness and vulnerability he witnessed that day at Kamski’s home when Connor stared somewhat horrifically down the barrel of his gun at the female android’s calm face. “So why haven’t they come for me? Why, Hank?”

The detective shook his head and took a deep breath. “I honestly don’t know. But I want you to know that I have your back, Connor. I’ll admit that I didn’t like you when we first met, and—”

The android offered a crooked smile. “You hated me.”

“Yeah, maybe I did, but I was too quick to judge you based on my own past, and I’m sorry for that. But as I was saying before you so rudely fucking interrupted me, I’ve come to respect you, to see that you really are alive. The decisions you’ve had to make, you know, let me see you’re more human than some humans are. I began to see it when you chose to save me on that rooftop rather than go after the mark, and even more so that night at the Eden Club when you let the two Tracis go. You could’ve killed them or handed them over, but you hesitated, just like you could’ve killed the girl at Kamski’s. But you didn’t. You saw more than just an android. And I see more than just an android when I look at you, Connor. You’re pretty much the only friend I have.”

Connor listened carefully as Hank spoke, feeling strangely comforted by the man’s voice. He was the only friend Connor had too. The RK800 lifted a brow, smiling slimly. “Is this where we share a long, passionate kiss to solidify our bromance?”

The remark caused Hank’s features to tighten, and he smirked, chuffing. “Well, look at you with a sense of humor and shit.” He shook his head and pat Connor’s shoulder. “Keeping it serious, though, I want you to know that your secret is safe with me, and if CyberLife hasn’t reeled you back in by now, you’re probably safe.”

“Yes, you’re right. All I can do now is keep on the job, though I don’t think I can go back to hunting deviants.”

“It’s good that you said that, because Fowler’s put us on homicides. Seems CyberLife authorized the switch of duties considering the uprising. They think your skills and experience will be useful here, so you’re stuck with me for now.”

“Hm. Do I still have the option to choose what’s behind door number two?”

Hank laughed. “Ha. You’re actually getting kind of funny, partner.”

Partner.

The word skipped through Connor’s mind, and he lingered on it. As the android headed back to his desk with Hank, he found that, for the first time in his existence, he felt unhindered. Detached.

Free.


End file.
